Graphic Editorial: Restoring order on our roads

Road transportation is a major driver of any economy.

It is the wheel around which the spokes of the economy revolve. Without an effective road transport system, economic activities in most developing countries will grind to a halt.

This is so because other means of transportation are not very developed in those countries, including Ghana.

In our part of the world, rail and water transportation is in its nascent stages and unable to play its expected role in national development.

Consequently, all economic actors use the road network to transact their businesses. 

Although the growing deficit in road infrastructure is not for want of trying, we think the government ought to step up its efforts in order to make road transportation a pleasurable experience.

When other means of transportation, such as rail, air and water, are underdeveloped, the pressure mounts on the roads, leading to needless accidents and increased cost of doing business.

For example, Ghana’s exports have to be transported by road to the ports, whereas haulage could have been done by rail or water at cheaper rates.

It is important that we make our roads safe, so that they can continue to play the key role in our efforts at stimulating the economy.

We are, therefore, encouraged by the efforts of the Ghana Police Service to restore sanity on the roads and end the carnage that threatens lives and property.

But, first of all, the agencies charged with the responsibility to bring motorists and other road users to book must crack the whip on errant drivers whose indiscipline  terminates the lives of breadwinners and thereby renders many people destitute.

The Daily Graphic calls on the police, the National Road Safety Commission and road transport operators to attach more seriousness to the campaign to stop the carnage on the roads.

The Police Administration must stop the bad lots within their ranks from turning road checks into gold mining by turning a blind eye to the activities of reckless drivers.

These campaigns must cease to be public relations gimmicks or a nine-day wonder and rather become sustained initiatives to get all road users to respect road traffic regulations.

Just last week, the recklessness of a driver led to the loss of 23 lives near Asankare on the Nkawkaw-Kumasi road.

We expect the police to enforce the regulations that will bring all reckless drivers to book and make our roads safe, in spite of the deteriorating conditions of some roads in the country.

We need everybody alive to contribute to nation building and we can only be assured of an end to the needless deaths on our roads if reckless driving is made a risky endeavour.